Paper - Rustic Home Fundamentals paper collection; Glacier, White Daisy cardstock (CTMH);

Embellishments - Canvas Alphabet, Wooden Shapes, Twine, Bohemian Assortment , Le Pen(CTMH).

To make this layout I was inspired by the creation on page 26 of our new Annual Inspirations. I am linking up to the "Copy That" challenge over at Heart2Heart.

To-Go Cup: I do love my London Fogs. I decided to have a rule this year that I was not allowed to buy one unless I had my to-go cup with me. Funny how easily you can always have one in your car when you make this a personal rule :). I was also able to find a clear glass to-go cup this month to enjoy my iced chai lattes in.

Water Bottle: Carrying around a water bottle is another habit I have already successfully incorporated. I find that I drink way more water throughout the day, feel more hydrated and healthy, and get less headaches. I got this bottle from our Hot Yoga studio and it keeps my water cold all throughout the day no matter the temperature!

Bamboo Brush & Comb: One thing I learned during this challenge was not to necessarily throw out all of the plastic I already use but to watch what you buy when you do buy new. I decided to buy a bamboo hairbrush and comb this month. My plastic ones are still in good condition but I figured they could be moved to my work bag. I couldn't believe the difference the bamboo brush has made. With my long hair I am constantly needing a brush and I feel that this one leaves my hair smoother.

Glass containers: It is going to take me awhile to transfer over completely to glass containers but I have started making the switch. I was surprised at how much longer my food seems to last in glass and how much easier it was to see what was in the fridge. Glass also holds up way better in the dishwasher, top or bottom rack!

Compostable Toothbrush: This was an easy change to make because a compostable toothbrush costs exactly the same as a regular toothbrush! 

Natural Toothpaste: I found this Nelson Naturals toothpaste in a glass jar and decided to give it a try this month. I had tried a few natural toothpastes before and couldn't get past the taste. This one did taste a bit weird at first but I got used to it throughout the month. I felt that I had less morning breath in the morning, too.

Reuseable Bags: This was another change I have been working on, but I took it a step further this month by carrying these small bags folded up in my purse. It has gotten easier to remember to take my bags to the grocery store, but I don't really enjoy carrying them throughout a store. Having these two folded up bags discreetly stored in my purse worked great.

Condiments in Glass: I was quite overwhelmed at how many condiments we buy in plastic. Being quite into cooking I find that I need a lot of condiments with my different recipes. It was quite the hunt to find mayonnaise in a glass container but I did it! At first I was dismayed at the small size of condiments I could get in glass but then I realized how often my larger plastic condiments were expiring before I could use them all. Honey, in particular, seems to stay runny and smooth longer in glass, too. 

Canning: While I have gotten more into canning over the last few years I made more of a point this month to find some time to make my own jams.

Other successes I had this month included zero-waste wrapping and birthday gifts.

I also found out that I could get cheese from our local butcher wrapped in butcher paper. My friend and I hand grated some of it for homemade pizza and it was oh so good! I am hoping to make this more of a habit, too. Lots of these plastic-free ways just seem to take some organization.

Challenges to being plastic-free included:

Freezer bags - I like to freeze our own fruit so that I don't have to go buying frozen packaged fruit from the grocery store for smoothies. Plastic takes up less room and seems to provide a good seal to keep our fruit fresh. 

Chips - I LOVE CHIPS! And my husband does as well. We don't always have chips in our house, but I do make my own salsa and can it so we like to have chips and salsa often. I was able to find corn tortilla chips in a paper bag that I think I will try to buy more often but I haven't been able to replace my ultimate favourite, Miss Vickies salt n' vinegar.

Toilet Paper - I searched to find toilet paper wrapped individually in paper (I thought I've seen them somewhere) but could only find them wrapped in plastic. This is one thing that is often necessary to buy in bulk.

I look forward to continuing the changes I have made to my life and being even more prepared next year for Plastic Free July! While I don't intend to go back to buying all of the plastic I used to because the challenge is over, I liked having the month to put an extra focus on it. I am hoping to have some more time this month once my Masters courses are finished to organize and make some more storage items myself. All in all this has been an eye-opening experience to the realities of plastic and how much waste we really do produce.

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.

When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will 

bloom like flowers."

- Thich Nhat Hanh - 

My focus for this month is on Friendship. June is a traditionally busy time in my professional life as we wrap up the school year. I chose to focus on friendship because it is often ignored during all of this chaos. My goals are:

- Be present

- Quality time outside 

- Be generous

- Don't gossip

- Remember & Show up

*All supplies are Close To My Heart - Calypso paper collection, Le Pen.

"It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light."

- G.K. Chesterton

This month's goals all centre around play:

We went to Maui for 12 days during Spring Break. Although I didn't have to go to work, I did have some work to do on my Masters. Luckily I was able to do that and still enjoy the beach! That's the best spot to write an essay, I'd say!

The view off our deck. Reminds me of the Blue Hawaiian Mai Tai drink I had with the outstanding dinners we went out for. I don't cook a lot of fish, but I thoroughly enjoyed eating the fresh MahiMahi and Oko cooked up by some amazing chefs. I loved falling asleep with the doors open and listening to the sound of the waves crash all night long.

Another gorgeous sunset we watched every single night. It brings me such peace and calm. 

Yoga on the beach. I don't enjoy getting up early in the morning, but this I would do any day.

Chris and I at the Maui Wine estate. I felt like we were both able to completely relax and destress during this trip, which doesn't happen often.

A visit to a Lavender Farm in Kula, Maui. I really have not been a fan of lavender up until now when I have been realizing the calming effects it can have. I am very interested in learning more about it and planting it on our property this year.

My focus quote for the month of March was: 

"When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life." - Jean Shinoda Bolen (Pausitivity).

It was very difficult for me to leave the peacefulness and calm I encountered in Maui to come back to the hectic, negative environment in my life right now. I am working at accepting that I may not be able to change the environment I am in right now, but I can add things to other areas to make it tolerable. I need to do more things for me. I have been reading another one of Gretchen Rubin's book, Better Than Before, (she is also the author of The Happiness Project), that my friend Natasha got for me and came across a section that was very relatable to my own happiness project:

"As I hoped, Monitoring was having a good effect on my habits. Even before applying more active habits strategies, I'd noticed myself making small shifts, as the data provided by tracking helped nudge me to do better than before." (page 56)

Although monitoring may have the preconception that in order to reach perfection or the ideal goal, we must do something every single day, rather I have come to learn that being mindful about certain things I appreciate having and doing in my life can make me think about incorporating them more frequently than before.

Paper collection - Seaside paper collection; Colonial White, Black cardstock; Love Your Day PML cards (CTMH); 

Distressed watercolour paper (Tim Holtz); Die - City Scene Die Collection (Papertrey Ink), Stitched Circles (SSS); 

Embellishments - watercolour paints, Le Pen (CTMH). 

This is a picture of my Mom and I standing on our deck. You can make out the mountain view in the distance on this beautiful sunny day. My Mom is an amazing lady and came to stay with me at the beginning of the month while Chris was away on a trip so I didn't have to be by myself :)

Here are Murphy and Ivory in my parent's cherry orchard. It is so great to be outside with them and enjoy the sunshine.

Natasha, Josie, and I went out for an amazing dinner at "The Shed" in Kimberley and then went off to an Essential Oils course to learn about them and their benefits.

Ski Day! My school stares right at the ski hill and it is awesome when we get to go up and enjoy it. This year we lucked out with fantastic weather on both days and I even got to ski on one of them - yay!

Chris and I with Ivory in the side-by-side at our house. Ivory seems to enjoy spending time with us and chilling out in the back. I really can't wait until we move in and I get to wake up on this gorgeous property every day.

My goals of being positive, smile more often, show kindness, ask for help, and laugh every day were pretty successful this month. Surprisingly, I really worked at asking for help this month. Sometimes I was successful, and other times not so much, but it was good for me to practice different ways to reach out and ask. February has come to be known as my crazy busy time at school. I love Pink Shirt Day and also put on a Carnaval de Québec celebration. I celebrated RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) week both in my classroom and in my personal life. It was a good reminder how these acts can be done spur of the moment without a ton of planning and can really be meaningful to other people. As my focus quote for the month says: Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness. - Leo Tolstoy. We had some delays with our house this month, so that has been frustrating, but I am happy to see things get back on track and resume in moving forward. 

This is a picture off of our deck. It isn't the clearest day, but I absolutely love the view. This is what made us fall in love with this property and buy it after our first visit. For New Years Eve, Chris and I stood on this deck and watched the fireworks below. It was the perfect start to a fresh, new beginning. I can't wait to enjoy this deck when we move in.

Here is a picture of me and my friend, Natasha after a snowshoe. Natasha is so special to me and is a major reason and inspiration for me to start my own Happiness Project. I love being outdoors in the winter even if I don't get to be often. It is beautiful.

My happy place. Here is another reason we fell in love with this property - the trees! We chose to build our house at the back of our property which means that our driveway is surrounded by these gorgeous fir trees as you go back. It gives me a sense of calm every single time I enter. Ivory, my inlaw's dog, seems to love it too :).

Here is a picture of Chris and I out with our friends, Ty and Shay, for Cosmic Bowling. We don't get together often, but when we do it is always a good time. It feels good to get out.

My goals this January included eating healthy, exercising, going outside, getting enough sleep, and being creative. It is interesting writing this into February, because I am still keeping these goals in mind this month and have been doing well with them too :). Some of these goals were definitely a struggle. I would say that I did get caught up in the "January Blahs" at some points and it did not help us living in a dark basement suite. This has really made me strive to put myself in better places and think about the things that are in my control right now. I tried a new form of exercise in January - Ballet Barre. I was far from a ballerina growing up. Even though I was in gymnastics and did take a year of jazz dance, I would argue that dance is quite removed from gymnastics in many ways. However, I have enjoyed this new activity as something different to work on.

I realized going through this month that my health goals were really all inter-connected: you get more sleep, you are more willing to exercise, you are encouraged to eat well, you go outside, you sleep better, and the cycle goes on and on. Creativity always seems good for the soul, too. I definitely haven't mastered these goals, but I think I have a new appreciation for the happiness they can bring to my life.

February

Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness. 

- Leo Tolstoy

Goals:

1. Positivity

2. Smile

3. Kindness

4. Ask for Help

5. Laugh

Most supplies are Close To My Heart:

Paper - Heartstrings paper collection; White Daisy, Whisper, Lagoon, Hollyhock cardstock;

Embellishments - Le Pen, Red Enamel Hearts, PML cards; Strawberry gumdrops (Your Next Embellie);

Cricut cartridges - Artbooking; Designer's Calendar (not CTMH).

Ironically, I bought this book several months ago, before my life seemed to fall apart. I'm so glad that I finally took the time to read through it - I highly recommend it, not only to people who are going through tough times, but to anyone looking to make positive changes to their life. With the new year approaching and some free time to get my creative juices flowing, I decided to create my own Happiness Project inspired by this book. Of course I knew right away that I wanted to do something crafty...to be able to display my goals and resolutions somehow and then have a keepsake to show my progress afterwards. I decided to create 12x12 layouts for each month. I hope that by posting these on my blog it will allow me to reflect on the previous month and inspire me to start fresh with new aspirations each month. For my project, I will have a focus for each month with 5 goals to track. At the end of each month, I hope to include pictures on these layouts of the month's highlights. This is ambitious, but I hope I can do it!

January

You're looking for the explanation, the loophole, the bright twist in the dark tale that reverses your story's course. But it won't reverse - for me or for you or for anyone who has ever been wronged, which is everyone. Allow your acceptance of the universality of suffering to be a transformative experience. You do that by simply looking at what pains you squarely in the face and then moving on. You don't need to move fast or far. You can go just an inch. You can mark your progress breath by breath. - Cheryl Strayed (Brave Enough)

Goals:

1. Eat & Cook Healthy - eat Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

2. Exercise - Yoga, Ski, Snowshoe, Walk

3. Go Outside

4. Sleep - Be in bed by 9:35pm on weeknights (that's when The Tonight Show starts!)

5. Be Creative - Cards, Cook, Crafts

Most supplies are Close To My Heart:

Paper - La Vie En Rose paper collection; White Daisy, Glacier cardstock;

Embellishments - Le Pen, Gold sequins, Gold medley, Black Hemp, Gold PML Overlays, washi tape;

Cricut cartridges - Artbooking; Designer's Calendar (not CTMH).

I got a Minc machine by Heidi Swapp for Christmas and was stoked to play around with it for this project. Here is a before and after photo of the tag on the first page.

Well, here goes! I was able to meet all of my goals for the first day of the month and I hope for more success throughout the month :)